I couldn't get through the last two so I base my review on the other 5 which I did read, although 'skim' would be the better term because it was easy to get bored and lost in the writing and skip ahead without losing the understanding of what the plot was.

I expected something dark when I picked up this one. After all it took me a little time to realize that the lady on the cover had bloody fingers on her left hand and blood dripping down her sleeve onto her gown. This however didn't reflect what the inside of the book would be like in any way. The only redemption was that the stories that were chosen were done with a twist that hadn't been considered before, and stories of the Piper and the golden flute from Jack and the Bean Stock were probably never explored before either. But this made up little for the fact that the writing was just so dull. The only reason why "Ashes" was the most memorable of the five I did read was because it was a completely different characterization of Cinderella in a very negative way, which stimulated the mind and caused an inner debate of whether how she's acting is justifiable or not.

Otherwise this collection ended up being nothing special. A rather bland, flat grouping of stories that, apart from the Cinderella retelling, didn't feel like they added much depth to the originals. The cover and title are beautiful but misleading, and the promised dark and luscious tales aren't as dark as they turned out to be.